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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published today (May 15) the credit card lending survey results for the first quarter of 2015.
Total card receivables decreased by 6.5% to HK$116.1 billion in the first quarter this year, after increasing by 7.8% in the previous quarter as a result of festive spending around the year end and the payment of salaries tax using credit cards. The total number of credit card accounts edged up by 0.6% to around 17.14 million.
The rollover amount, which reflects the amount of borrowing by customers using their credit cards, slightly decreased by 0.9% during the quarter to HK$19.4 billion. However, the rollover ratio increased to 16.7% from 15.8% a quarter ago due to a faster decrease in total card receivables.
The charge-off amount decreased to HK$539 million during the quarter from HK$554 million in the previous quarter. Correspondingly, the quarterly charge-off ratio edged down to 0.45% from 0.46% in the previous quarter.
The amount of rescheduled receivables transferred outside the surveyed institutions' credit card portfolios increased to HK$81 million from HK$77 million in the previous quarter.
The delinquent amount increased to HK$297 million at end-March 2015 from HK$253 million at end-December 2014. The delinquency ratio also rose to 0.26% from 0.20% in the same period. The combined delinquent and rescheduled ratio (after taking into account the transfer of rescheduled receivables mentioned above) increased to 0.32% from 0.27% in the previous quarter.
Ends/Friday, May 15, 2015
Issued at HKT 18:20
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